Chaos
by Si1verEbon3y
Summary: On the eve of the worlds fifth new moon two will be born of fire and bloodshed, split between nations. Unite a kingdom they must but hardships ought to first be crossed. Zutura. AU.
1. PreFace

Pre-Face

Whispered legends that still echoed in the dark corners of our country beheld a hope that ignited and fueled mayhem. They enticed the so called weak minded, of a "freedom" of sorts. One that held no boundaries based on race, element, gender, or social standing. It etched itself in ones mind and tinkered with your thoughts until you began to doubt what was sustainable in society and what was considered treason to the lord. Many heroes had fallen from the graces of the gods in this manner. They began their journeys with the engraved sayings of our people and slowly throughout their adventures they exposed the concrete beliefs that had etched them to the glory they held and bared them to the tarnishing waste that was those hollow words of legend.

Fire, earth, air, and water. These elements created our world from the mass of destruction that the gods played with. Our country speaks of evolution, that we derived from these elements and they course throughout our veins to grant us the power to create and destroy as we see fit. But legend holds a different account…

One of which that is the vein of all else. That the gods held one element in favor above all others. That when they choose this element they granted the wielder the power to reign above the others and uphold the balance of peace among the people. Yet fire, the chosen one, is fueled by passion. Passion is driven by emotions. Emotions trifle the mind and are ruled by the heart no matter who it is who is in charge, because that is what makes us human. The gods noted their mistake when the rush of power demolished the mind of the first lord and created death and famish among all the elements, all of which were unable to control the burning rage of greed that ravished the nations. That is when, it is told, that the gods created the ability to counter each element. Water would always oppose fire and vice versa the same applied to earth and air. But with this came the isolation of each element. They raged wars against each other and had different rulers that sought to prove which element could once again control the rest. Yet with the ability to defy each other there was no manner in which any would rise above another. The gods were plagued with sadness. Their children could not find peace and so to maintain a stability among the world and stop all the useless bloodshed, they sent one of their own. One that would be born among the humans with the ability to hardness the four elements and create a harmonious unity. The avatar. It would force the four element to work together to raise a child into an adult that would respect the wishes of all elements. And when he or she reached adulthood his mind would be connected once again to the gods and he or she could reach a state of endless peace that wouldn't hinder the thoughts and decisions that had to be made of a biased conscious, yet it would allow there to be equal consideration of every elements wishes. Once the avatar would die, as he or she had the course of a human life, he or she would be born into the hands of another element and the cycle would continue again. It seemed that this was the answer that the world and gods had been seeking because peace settled into the very core of humanity for a millennium. Then the inexplicable happened…

With the death of the avatar Roku no other was born, or found. Once again hostilities began to brew and fights ensued. Yet with the constant presence that had been the avatar, most people had lost the connection that they had once held with the gods, the respect was tarnished. With technology on the brink of weaponry, the fire nation held the flag of emperor, of power, of destruction. Deaths were high and famish was found in every corner of the world until the lord that reigned in the fire nation stated that if the world accepted the ways of the fire the fighting would stop. And with no hope left for the rest of the elements. They surrendered. And that is how the nation of fire conquered the world a century after the death of the avatar.

Yet a seer. One that still held a glimmer of hope that nations would find peace made a prophecy that killed her but began the rumors of saviors.

_On the eve of the worlds fifth new moon two will be born of fire and bloodshed, split between nations. Unite a kingdom they must but hardships ought to first be crossed. They will unite the one and among them an era will have begun yet if They fail the world as we know it will cease at once._

The first century of this proclamation was experienced with hope at every new moon. Waiting to see when the children would be born. People would pray and hope that soon the injustice would be over

The second century was spent with a second though at what the seer had spoken of. People were working and slowly laws were placed to even out the injustices. Some called it the beginning of a social system others proclaimed segregation and discrimination, those were never heard of again.

The third was spent in despair and speeches that the seer had been crazy with absolutely no connection to any such gods. Science began to rule the hearts and minds of people and even a mention of gods at times was scoffed at. This is when it was ruled to be forbidden to speak of the proclamation in public again. Technology was on the rise and discoveries were being made. Fire still ruled.

By the fourth century the prophecy was handled more as a child's bedtime story rather that holding any truth. People had grown accustomed to the social standings that they held. Elements mingled in some social groups and it was more accepted to treat each other with some ounce of dignity. Still fire ruled and stopped all chances of rebellion.

By the fifth it was rare if a person heard the prophecy or even a snippet of it in their life time. The fire nation had succeeded in hushing all hopes for a change. They had ushered in a era of technological innovations that allowed the world to attempt to live in a semi stable state. What they didn't count on was the actual validity of the prophecy for it was in this century that the world held its fifth solar eclipse…..it was in the beginning of the this century that the government exterminated a city in the southern pole for uprising in another futile attempt to expand the water element. Where a child was left for dead in the blood soaked arms of a mother. It was in the fifth century that the royal family was assassinated except for the youngest two that lived by the grace of their mother who hid them with her dying breath. It was this century that the gods reawakened to find out the fate of their beloved friend that had gone missing six centuries ago.

This is where the story begins………


	2. Mornings

Chapter 1

In the beginning…

She could feel the smoke that filled her lungs and the burning sensation that came along with it, but she had to keep on running, Past all the yelling, the panicking, because she knew that if she stopped somehow everything would come to an end. Gasping for each breath she saw that straight ahead was the shore of the glacier she called home. _Mama_. She tried and tried but no matter what she did the words just wouldn't come out. The figure that stood in her vision was beautiful. A woman, her mother, who held herself with every ounce of pride that a water citizen could. Their eyes meet as she neared her._ Why?_ And at that moment she understood, she understood that there was absolutely no way she would survive this. That she would never see her father or her brother again. There would be no more family picnics or festivals to attend…this was what her mother had tried in vain to hide for more than a year…_its all my fault. _ And she felt it, the pulsing that came with the fear, the fear of being left alone. It all burst forth and the last thing she felt was the lapping water that caressed her feet…._strange I don't remember reaching the shore … _Then the screams of terror began, and there was nothing she could do about it. _I am sorry._

"Katara!! Katara!! _Katara_!!" she could vaguely feel the hands of somebody around her shoulders shaking her, and that's what struck fear in her. She couldn't identify the voice.

Whoever it was reacted swiftly to the incoming punch that whipped their way so she assumed it had to be somebody who knew her. But with darkness clouding her vision she couldn't be sure…._Maybe its happening again…_her mind began to wander. Assuming the worst of the situation. Carnage, bloodshed, death.

It was all in a matter of seconds that this had started and she could still feel the traces of whatever dream she had be in lingering around. The fear that had held her heart hostage was still making it gallop a thousand mile an hour. Then there were the faint streams of sweat that were making themselves evident on the back and neck of her cami.

"Katara its me" sigh " Its dad" It took her a minute to properly school her emotions and she thanked whatever god that was watching her that it was still night.

"Daddy? What's wrong?" he sighed a deep breath. He understood what her fear was, something that still remained unspoken between them, but what he couldn't understand was why she feared and hid it from him. He knew the trips he took were long but it still baffled him as to why they never reconnected again after the incident.

"I am sorry" she understood that he tried his hardest to cope with her remoteness, that it didn't matter to him. But still she feared the same thing she had years ago. Abandonment.

"Where's Sokka?" He expected this, after all it was his son who took care of his daughter the best. It was just a shame that he couldn't boast the same about his fathering skills.

"He was still asleep last time I checked. We just came into port and I heard you….Sleeping" _You were having a nightmare again _he wanted to say but knew as well as she did that if he spoke those words she would fall back into herself.

"Can you….get him for me?" He could feel the weight of the whole world upon his shoulders at that moment " Yea Katara, I'll be right back with him"

He got up from the side of her mattress where he had sat down and slowly made his way across her room to the control panel on her wall. His head hung low and he knew she couldn't tell with the darkness that enveloped them both ,but his heart could. It hurt knowing that your daughter couldn't depend on you to keep her fears at bay. Right before he pressed the button to open the door he straighted up and walked out with the strength of a warrior so she wouldn't notice the pain her words had inflicted on him.

She could hear the shuffle of the his feet and she knew in those few seconds it took him to cross her room that he was being dragged down by her selfishness. _I'm sorry_. When the door raised itself up she was blinded by the light that blazed in and she could make out the outline of her fathers body going through the door. Then the door came down once again and she was left to her own thoughts in darkness, waiting like always.

" ZuZu!" She was breathing raggedly and the panic was beginning to settle in.

Where the hell was her brother? She had already scourged the royal wing and the security guards had told her they thought he was still in his room.

"Damn it Zuko if your hiding this is a sick way to be playing with me" she yelled into her wrist. That was where her bracelet hung and unbeknownst to anybody but herself , her uncle and zuko, it was a cellular device of sorts that held all three of them in connection at all times. Something she found calming at times like this.

"What in the world are you storming the building for Azula? For kamis sake its barely two o'clock" A sleepy old man was walking towards her with an air of annoyance.

"I cant find him…he isn't in his room….maybe…maybe its-

"Azula!! Calm your self this instant!" his voice reverberated throughout the hall way and she noticed that whatever sleep he had held in his face was washed away with the slight scold that was directed at her. She also noticed that slowly the soldiers that had slowly been nodding off were reawakened with instilled growing interest in whatever fight the two were holding at such hour.

" Do you want to start a panic in the castle with your ideological nonsense?"

" But unc-

"No buts. You are the princess and if you begin such talks people will eat you up like fresh miso soup" His eyes bore into hers and as much as she hated to admit it. She knew that he was only speaking of the truth, both for her sake and her brothers.

" But where could he be then?" she threw back "he isn't picking up my calls or answering my beacon" she murmured as she shook her wrist in his face. At that moment one of the charms began glowing.

She could feel the frustration growing to a gentle pulse behind her eyes.

" Maybe its him" her uncle said bemused with the situation.

She squeezed another of the charms and the koala bird in the center began talking in a familiar voice.

"cant anyone take a piss in peace around here"

Her uncle snorted and slowly shook his head

" see nothing to worry about now get onto bed before you set off some other alarm"

He looked down at her and his gaze gently softened as he wrapped his arms around her in a familiar hug

" How many times will I have to repeat to you that there is nothing to panic about as long as I am here to protect you two? Please Azula, I know you do not trust me but have faith in my abilities as your guardian." He slowly let his arms fall away from her figure and made his way back to his room with a slight shuffle and limp in his walk.

She knew it was all an act. If her uncle wished for it he could take whatever gurads the entire premises held and singe them into oblivion. There was a reason he was called the Dragon of the West and it wasn't because he liked the lands.

She watched him turn the corner and muttering that the world was so unfair. She knew in her heart that her uncle would never harm them but she also knew that nobody trusted her. She was a prodigy, a master, a danger. Especially to her brother. But what nobody understood was that she would die in order to protect him, he was the last thing that had been ordered upon her to protect. Something that nobody knew about and that order would hold her till her last living breath.

She was making her way down the twisting corridors to the royal wing when it occurred to her that she had looked in her brothers room and she was certain he hadn't been in there.

She knocked on his door and waited for the command

" What Azula?"

It was enough for her to enter his room.

"where were you?" her eyes tried to connect with his but he was making his way into bed and refused to look at her.

"I told you I was in the bathroom. Its like I cant even breath for a moment or you'll have the entire country in a riot"

She recognized he was lying but said nothing of it.

"Just be careful when you leave,….. You know I worry to much. If it wasn't for uncle I would have probably fried the entire staff in order to get somebody to tell me where you where"

He snorted " you woke up uncle?"

A look of annoyance was shadowing his face " Were you yelling down the hallways again?"

His look of irritation was replaced with anger as steam began to blow out of his nostrils. " If I've told you once I've told you a hundred times. If you start yelling that somebody is in the building trying to kill me or you we will become the spectacle of the entire court!! It could even invoke the possibility of a coup within our government!"

"I know" she looked down and couldn't help the guilt that was starting to ebb at her. " I never said that anybody was here thought…..uncle found me before I did"

"Thank the gods" She knew he wouldn't elaborate.

"Just go back to bed Azula, and trust me if anybody was stupid enough to attempt to break in they wouldn't make it, at least not while I was still breathing"

He had a look of savage revenge that overtook his features but in a blink of an eye it was gone and he was left there ushering his sister to her room.

She was outside of his door when he shut it with a silent good night. And she knew as well as he did that he had never been to the bathroom that night. But she would listen and go to her room although she understood that there would be no more sleep that would come her way again.

He knew that she was worried. Hell he was worried. He had been sneaking out again. It was an impossibility that he would get caught because that was the way he was trained but that never stopped his sister from worrying. He knew that all her lies about how she wasn't worried about him rather the throne was all a sack of camel-cow dung. She worried that she would lose another person. He held the same fear as well.

Slowly he rounded his bed and climbed in reaching over to the nightstand opening the last drawer. He pulled out the false bottom and retrieved his most precious possession. A family photo that held everyone at the moon festival that had been celebrated a few years back. It held the one thing he missed the most. Love.

He knew that Azula had nightmares almost every night where she woke up screaming about an assassin. The entire elite guard that cared for them knew. Yet no one, not even himself, could bring themselves to talk to her about it or try to help her. It wasn't because no one cared. The complete opposite. Everyone was worried but everybody also knew that she prided herself in being strong and never allowing anything to alter her state of calmness. If she knew that someone had heard her crying and screaming ….well nobody was willing to risk the outcome.

Zuko took a deep breath and put the picture back. Tomorrow would be the first day. The annual Festivals would commence once again and he had to stay strong. If not for himself then for Azula.

He blew out the flame that illuminated the room and tried to get comfortable but he knew that he wouldn't get much sleep at least not with the muted cries he could hear coming from the room next to his.


End file.
